VILLAGERS in Lickey and Blackwell are being given a helping hand around the parish thanks to a new booklet.

Lickey and Blackwell Parish Council, with the help of Worcestershire County Council, has produced the 18-page book featuring five guided walks.

The useful pamphlet, which is to be distributed free to all households in the parish in the near future, contains maps for each of the five circular walks as well as some illustrations.

Walks include Beacon Hill incorporating The Lookout and Holy Trinity Church, and Twatling Road and Pinfields Wood which is around 400 years old and includes oak, yew, hazel, rowan and chestnut trees.

Parish council chairman Ron Brown said: "It is a very useful booklet for the whole parish.

"The aim is to ensure that the footpaths remain open.

"If we do not use them it is likely that someone will find a reason not to let you walk there.

"The more they are used the better it is."

The guidebook is one of a series of guides produced jointly by parish councils and the county council.

The aim is to help residents to use their local footpaths and provide visitors with a way of getting to know a part of the landscape, natural history and heritage of the county.

It has been produced and funded as part of the parish paths scheme through which the county council and the Countryside Agency provide local authorities and community groups with grants and professional advice, training and support to keep public rights of way open and in use.

The guidebook will also be on sale for non-residents at visitor centres throughout the area.